


Have Everything Perfected By the Time You Reach Eighteen

by melodicchaos



Series: Dance With Us Week [2]
Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: College, F/F, alyssa's college essay was gay, college acceptance letters, dance with us week, stressed alyssa, the band closet makes a return
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27881846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodicchaos/pseuds/melodicchaos
Summary: Alyssa Greene has had a blueprint for her college plans her entire life. Well, her mother has, and she just went along with them. Because with her mother's outline, her whole life would be perfect by the time she was eighteen and accepted to college.When she gets into her dream school, her plans are shaken up and she has to decide - be who she wants, or who her mother wants.
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan (minor)
Series: Dance With Us Week [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2041282
Kudos: 19
Collections: Dance With Us Week 2020





	Have Everything Perfected By the Time You Reach Eighteen

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY DANCE WITH US WEEK DAY ONE!!!!
> 
> Today's prompt is character appreciation, and I already wrote a little thing about Kaylee, but I got this idea and had to write it. 
> 
> This is dedicated to all my early college kids/late high school kids, y'all get this struggle and I'm with you.

The first acceptance letter came in November. Alyssa was at cheer practice, but her mom was working from home that day, so when she got picked up from practice, the envelope was sitting on the passenger seat. 

“Hey, Mom..!” Alyssa grinned, her face red and sweaty. “How was your day?”

Mrs. Greene’s face fell slightly, realizing her daughter hadn’t noticed the large packet on her seat. “Fine, but didn’t you see what was on the seat?” Mrs. Greene asked, urging Alyssa to scoot over before pulling the envelope out from underneath her. “Look..!”

“Is this…” Alyssa trailed off, ripping open the envelope. Sure enough, in big bold letters that seemed to jump off the page, _We are pleased to offer you…_ “I got in!” 

“That’s great, honey!” Mrs. Greene smiled. “We can get your favorite for dinner tonight to celebrate. I have a PTA meeting anyway, so I won’t really have time to cook.”

Alyssa chewed on her bottom lip, typing on her phone for a little bit. “Can I have a friend over tonight, then? Just to study, I promise.” 

“Is it Shelby? I always liked her, she’s such a nice girl, and her mother is such a gem,” Mrs. Greene asked, starting the car and pulling away from the school’s parking lot. 

“Yeah!” Alyssa nodded, lying through her teeth. “We have a project to do together.” 

Veronica nodded, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel to a song on the radio. “Mhm. Just make sure she’s home by her curfew. I’ll be home by ten.” 

“Sounds great, Mom, thank you!” Alyssa beamed.

🖉🖉🖉🖉

More and more letters started coming in around December, and Alyssa saw her mother’s enthusiasm towards her acceptances. Even when she got declined - from one of her reach schools, but a decline nonetheless - Mrs. Greene barely shrugged, and told her she’d get the next one.

Meanwhile, Alyssa couldn’t stop thinking about the pile of choices in front of her. College was so _expensive,_ even with her scholarships. Indiana University was close enough, but it didn’t have a major that jumped out at her. She knew her mom’s heart was set on her going to Notre Dame, but even with her scholarships, it was still around $30,000 a year. Alyssa’s own heart was set on Barnard or Smith College, but they were both on the other side of the country and twelve hours away. What if something happened back home? Flights were expensive, it wasn’t like she could jump on a plane every time she wanted to come home. 

“Hey, ‘Lys,” Emma greeted as she opened the door to the band closet. Alyssa gave a small wave, her head ducked over a notebook filled with scratches of notes. “What are you working on?” 

“Indiana University is three and a half hours away, and it’ll cost about fifteen thousand with my scholarships, but they don’t have a major I like,” she mumbled to herself, a pencil in her hair. “Notre Dame is only an hour, and it’s got a major, but it’s expensive...and only an hour away. Barnard and Smith are completely out of the question.” 

“Oh..college stuff,” Emma nodded, sitting down on the floor and gently rubbing Alyssa’s leg. “Where do _you_ want to go?”

“Barnard,” Alyssa said without a second thought. “But...I don’t want to be that far away from you. Twelve hours by car is a long time to drive to see each other, and long distance sucks…” 

Emma pulled Alyssa into her lap gently. “What’s your second choice?” she asked, brushing down a few of Alyssa’s curls. 

“Well, I could always get a job and take out loans to go to Notre Dame...but I don’t think you’d be allowed on campus..” 

“Well, that’s okay..!” Emma smiled. “I can always come visit you and steal you for a day.” 

Alyssa leaned back against Emma’s chest, sighing. “What about you? What’s your plan?”

“Take a year off, work, help Gran, you know,” she shrugged. “College doesn’t seem like my thing. I like music, but I can’t really disappoint my parents more and major in that…” 

“You don’t mean that..” Alyssa sighed. 

Emma laughed. “I don’t. But I still don’t know about college.” 

The rest of senior year, and Alyssa refused to tell anyone where she chose to go to college. Not even Emma, who kept bugging Alyssa to get her a sweatshirt of the college she chose. Any time mail came from her college, she raced it upstairs to her room, hiding it as though she was a child with something forbidden. It felt like there was a bomb inside her, waiting to go off. 

Thankfully, she got the distraction she needed, and the confirmation that she made the right choice. The Broadway actors came to town, bringing change with them, and Alyssa’s mother was so distracted with these “newcomers” that she didn’t even have time to bug her daughter about college. 

Towards the end of the year, after the actors had left, Emma called Alyssa over, only to tell her the big news. 

“I’m moving to New York next fall,” Emma smiled. “Angie and Barry want to take me under their wings and teach me about Broadway. I want to get the hell out of here, and Angie promised me a job, so I said yes.” 

“Oh my god!” Alyssa squealed, before rummaging around in her bag to pull out a wrapped box. “Open it.” 

Dutifully, Emma ripped through the paper and box to reveal a Barnard hoodie. “So you’re…” 

“Yeah! I paid the down payments myself and everything. I’m telling my mom tonight,” Alyssa beamed. 

Emma pulled the hoodie on, feeling an immediate sense of comfort. “I’m so proud of you.” 

Mrs. Greene didn’t take the news as poorly as Alyssa assumed she would, but she wasn’t happy either. 

“You’re not going because of _her,_ are you?” she had asked. Alyssa had come to learn _her_ meant Emma, but it was a step up from ‘that girl.’

“No, Mom. I’m going for me. I’ll be happiest there.” 

And she would be. In Edgewater, Alyssa felt trapped, trying to be a person everyone expected her to be. The good girl with perfect grades and a stellar list of extracurriculars. The seemingly perfect girl, who couldn’t do anything wrong. 

In college, that could change. She could be whoever she wanted. She didn’t have to carry the weight of the world on her back, and be ‘Alyssa Greene: the girl from that news article,’ or ‘Alyssa Greene: borderline Disney princess-perfect.’ 

She could just be Alyssa Greene, and live her own life.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Comments and kudos aren't necessary, but are greatly appreciated!!


End file.
